Q2 2013: Signs of a Continuing, but Slow Recovery

Breathe a slight sigh of relief – the Q2 2013 PayScale Index is a return to good news, for the most part. Yes, there were still a few dips in some cities, industries and job categories, but overall, "The recent jobs report, together with the rise in wages observed in The PayScale Index show signs of a continuing, albeit slow recovery," according to Katie Bardaro, PayScale’s Lead Economist.

Wages have cooled off for the oil & gas sector, falling 0.6 percent from the previous quarter. For the first time since early 2011, the mining, oil and gas exploration industry is near the bottom for wage growth among the industries.

The decrease in mining, oil and gas probably contributed to decreases in cities that rely on this industry. Houston, usually a strong performer, continued to feel the pinch in Q2 2013. Wages in Houston fell 0.1 percent this quarter. However, this is a smaller drop than last quarter, when they saw the largest decrease since mid-2010.

Sales and Wholesale Jobs are on fire. Quarterly growth for sales jobs for Q2 was 1.1 percent (tied with media & publishing jobs and manufacturing & production jobs for top quarterly growth) and annual growth was 4.1 percent (putting them at #2).

Quarterly growth for the wholesale industry was 1.3 percent – the highest of any industry. This strong quarterly growth pushed wage growth in the Wholesale industry to match national wage growth.

Both manufacturing jobs and the manufacturing Industry recovered from the hit they took last quarter. Wages for manufacturing jobs rose 1.1 percent this quarter, pushing annual growth up to 3.5 percent, and wages for the overall manufacturing industry grew by 0.9 percent. This aligns with information released by the Institute for Supply Management, which tracks manufacturing activity. They found the manufacturing sector’s expansion expanded in June.

Methodology for The PayScale Index: Trends in Compensation
The PayScale Index tracks quarterly changes in total cash compensation for full-time, private industry employees in the United States. In addition to a national index, it includes separate indices for specific industries, metropolitan areas, job categories, and company sizes. The PayScale Index uses 2006 average total cash compensation as a baseline.